Huang and Sanehira Receive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Congratulations to Kevin Huang and Erin Sanehira who have been named winners of the 2013 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Award!

These prestigious awards from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) provide three years of support including an annual stipend, cost-of-education allowance, an international travel allowance, and TeraGrid supercomputer access. More details about the program can be found on the NSF GRFP website.

Erin's research focuses on using non-toxic, colloidal quantum dots and plasmonic nanoparticles for photovoltaic applications. By using non-toxic, solution-processable materials, the goal is to fabricate inexpensive, lightweight, and flexible solar cells for unique conformal or large-area applications. She is advised by Professor Lih Lin.

Kevin works on 3-D non-rigid shape correspondence, and is advised by Professor Howard Chizeck. The motivation lies in providing accurate kinesthetic feedback for haptic rendering based on real-time point cloud data during interaction with a deformable object. This research also has application in dynamic organ modeling for the purposes of robotic surgery.